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Matt Maier is back and healthy to provide a dominating inside force for the Buccs.
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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*Twin Valley South
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9-2
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17-3
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*Franklin Monroe
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9-2
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16-4
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*National Trail
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9-2
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15-5
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*Tri-Village
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9-2
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14-6
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Ansonia
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7-4
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10-10
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Tri-County North
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6-5
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12-8
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Mississinawa Valley
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4-7
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8-12
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Arcanum
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4-7
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7-13
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Newton
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4-7
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5-15
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Covington
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3-7
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3-17
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Bethel
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2-9
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3-17
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Bradford
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0-11
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0-20
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February 21, 2003 – PIQUA
The Covington Buccaneers improbable run through the sectional tournament continues as they defeat Jackson Center 35-32 in front of a packed house at Piqua High School.
To put what Covington has accomplished in the past week, one must remember that the Buccs didn't win two games in a row throughout the entire regular season and stood at 3-17 coming into the sectional tournament.
The Buccs upset Anna in their first game of the tournament to set up a showdown with Jackson Center, a team that historically field a competitive basketball team and was coming off of an impressive win over Fairlawn two nights ago.
It was evident early on that this would be a low scoring affair as both teams flexed their muscles on defense. Neither team could get anything going offensively in the first period and Jackson Center held a slim 9-7 lead after 8:00 of play.
"I'm proud of the way we play defense," described Covington coach Roger Craft. "It kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win it at the end. We pressured them all night with our defense."
The defensive struggle continued in the second period as Jackson Center went into halftime with a 19-16 lead.
The lead could have been more, but Covington's Darin Rhoades canned two 3-pointers in the period to keep the Buccs within striking distance heading into the second half.
Points continued to be hard to come by in the third period with Jackson Center holding onto a slim lead. Covington's Matt Maier powered his way inside for 4 of the Buccs' 9 points in the period and controlled the boards to lead Covington to a 9-2 scoring advantage in the third.
"It's nice to have Matt Maier back and healthy again," said coach Craft. "He had a very good game tonight. He hit some tough shots with guys hanging all over him and controlled the boards on both ends of the floor. He's such a strong kid and hard to move around inside so we really needed him tonight and he stepped up."
Leading by 4 points, 25-21 to begin the final 8:00 of the contest, the Buccaneers continued to rely on their stingy defense. They needed to because foul shooting became a problem and allowed Jackson Center to stay in the game until the end.
Despite missing 5 of 8 from the line in the final 3:00 of the contest, the Buccaneers managed to hold a 33-32 lead with under 1:00 to go. Ross Mohler hit on two free throws to give the Buccs a 35-32 lead with only 3.5 seconds to go. Jackson Center's desperation shot from midcourt fell shot and the Buccaneers celebrated their second straight win of the tournament.
Matt McCord led all scorers with 14 points while Darin Rhoades contributed with 9 points on three 3-pointers. Matt Maier grabbed 7 rebounds for the Buccs.
Covington get a week to rest before they battle the defending state runner-up, Russia Raiders next Friday night for the sectional championship.
Covington Scoring:
Matt McCord – 14
Darin Rhoades – 9
Matt Maier – 6
Ross Mohler – 4
Dusty Kimmel – 2
Jackson Center Scoring:
Stephenson – 10
Elliott – 6
Woolley – 6
Smith – 5
Jones – 3
March – 2
Scoring by Periods:
Covington............7.......16......25.....35
Jackson Center...9........19......21.....32
